The Reformation
July
General State of the Country
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In the so-called ” civil districts ” the distress was great, owing to the debasing of the coinage, which had caused the prices of necessities to rise to a height previously unheard of. The soldiers, it was complained, being unpaid, plundered the people, and the military authorities seized provisions for the troops.
All this time, in spite of many obstacles, a certain standard of education was kept up amongst the Irish, and the old learning had not altogether decayed. We read of the death, in 1551, of O’Cassidy, Archdeacon of Clogher, ” called the Grecian,” evidently an eminent classical scholar, and of Teig O’Coffey, “preceptor of the Schools of Ireland, and poet,” who was taken prisoner by the English, and would have been put to death only that he escaped. For Irish learning, literature or art, the English officials had little respect. An order, made in 1549, directs that no poet should ” compose any poem or anything which is called ‘ Auran ‘ (&t>p&n), except to the King, under pain of forfeiture of goods.” Later, it is directed that a search shall be made for Irish harps, which, when found, are to be broken.
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July
Meanwhile, however, the Reformed doctrines were making no progress, and this, in the opinion of those who ruled in the young King’s name, was a matter of vital importance. In February 1551 the Deputy received positive orders to introduce into Ireland the new Liturgy, which ” we have to be translated into our mother-tongue of this realm of England,” and to have its use enforced in the churches.
Very reluctantly, St. Leger summoned the bishops who had either conformed were originally of royal creation, and cmmunicated to them the King’s communicated to them the King’s command.
These were in general very ill received. ” Then shall every illiterate fellow read Mass,” said Dowdall the Primate ; and after a heated discussion, he quitted the assembly in great wrath, followed by several other prelates. Browne, of course, professed his readiness to submit to any orders received from ” Our gracious King,” “making no question why or wherefore.” But only Staples of Meath and the Bishops of Kildare and Leighlin followed his example.
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July
It seemed possible, under these circumstances, that, if a rebellion were started in Ireland, it would receive some assistance from France or Scotland, or both. Henry II of France appears to have had an idea that it might be worth his while to take action, and he sent agents to Ireland to report on the state of things there.
Next year (1550), however, he made peace with England. Scotland, distracted by the perpetual struggles of the nobility against the Regent, could do nothing, and the Irish chiefs, whose intrigues in Paris and Edinburgh were known to the English Government, were left to find their way back as best they could into the good graces of the Lord Deputy. This they did without much difficulty. St. Leger was too well aware of the obstacles to a campaign in Ulster—its great expense and uncertain results—to desire to drive these powerful dynasts into an attitude of determined hostility.
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